How Long Will My Money Last Calculator
Discover your exact retirement savings runway. Enter your nest egg, monthly withdrawal rate, expected investment return, and inflation — get an instant year-by-year depletion projection with live chart.
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Your retirement projection
Year-by-year savings breakdown
| Year | Age | Opening balance | Investment gains | Withdrawals | Closing balance | Withdrawal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Click “Calculate Now” to generate the year-by-year breakdown. | ||||||
Table shows up to 30 years or until funds are depleted. Actual returns will vary based on market performance.
How Does the “How Long Will My Money Last” Calculator Work?
This retirement savings depletion calculator estimates your portfolio longevity — the exact number of years your nest egg will sustain your lifestyle before reaching zero. Unlike simple division, it models the four compounding forces that simultaneously work for and against your retirement savings.
The Four Variables That Determine Your Retirement Runway
Your savings depletion timeline is determined by the interaction of these variables — not just your balance and spending:
- Starting portfolio balance: The total of your 401(k), IRA, brokerage accounts, and other liquid assets available for retirement income.
- Net monthly withdrawal rate: Your total monthly spending minus any fixed income streams (Social Security, pension, annuity). This is the actual amount your portfolio must fund each month.
- Annual investment return: Your portfolio’s expected growth rate. A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds typically returns 5–7% annually over long periods, though this varies with market conditions.
- Inflation / cost-of-living adjustment: Your purchasing power erodes roughly 3% each year. This means the same lifestyle costs more every year — your withdrawal amount must grow to keep pace.
The 4% Rule explained: The most widely cited sustainable withdrawal rate in retirement planning, the 4% rule states that withdrawing 4% of your portfolio in year one — then adjusting for inflation annually — has historically sustained a portfolio for 30+ years across nearly all market conditions since 1926. On a $300,000 portfolio, this equals $12,000/year ($1,000/month) from savings.
How the Calculation Is Performed
Each year in the projection, the calculator applies this sequence:
- Apply your annual investment return to the current portfolio balance (compounding effect)
- Subtract your annual net withdrawal (monthly net withdrawal × 12)
- Increase the withdrawal amount by your selected inflation rate for the following year
- Repeat until the balance reaches zero or 60 years have elapsed
This models the sequence of returns risk — one of the most underestimated threats to retirement security — by showing how annual compounding and inflation-adjusted spending interact over a multi-decade horizon.
How Long Will My Savings Last? Common Scenarios
Assumes 4% annual portfolio return, 3% annual withdrawal increase for inflation, no Social Security or pension income.
| Savings balance | $1,000/mo | $1,500/mo | $2,000/mo | $2,500/mo | $3,000/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | ~9 yrs | ~7 yrs | ~6 yrs | ~5 yrs | ~4 yrs |
| $200,000 | ~20 yrs | ~14 yrs | ~11 yrs | ~9 yrs | ~8 yrs |
| $300,000 | ~33 yrs | ~21 yrs | ~16 yrs | ~13 yrs | ~11 yrs |
| $500,000 | 55+ yrs | ~37 yrs | ~26 yrs | ~21 yrs | ~18 yrs |
| $750,000 | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | ~40 yrs | ~30 yrs | ~25 yrs |
| $1,000,000 | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | ~43 yrs | ~34 yrs |
Assumes 6% annual portfolio return, 3% annual withdrawal increase for inflation, no Social Security or pension income.
| Savings balance | $1,000/mo | $1,500/mo | $2,000/mo | $2,500/mo | $3,000/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | ~10 yrs | ~8 yrs | ~6 yrs | ~5 yrs | ~5 yrs |
| $200,000 | ~23 yrs | ~16 yrs | ~12 yrs | ~10 yrs | ~9 yrs |
| $300,000 | ~40 yrs | ~24 yrs | ~18 yrs | ~15 yrs | ~13 yrs |
| $500,000 | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | ~30 yrs | ~24 yrs | ~20 yrs |
| $750,000 | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | ~37 yrs | ~29 yrs |
| $1,000,000 | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | ~42 yrs |
Assumes 8% annual portfolio return, 3% annual withdrawal increase for inflation, no Social Security or pension income.
| Savings balance | $1,000/mo | $1,500/mo | $2,000/mo | $2,500/mo | $3,000/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | ~11 yrs | ~8 yrs | ~7 yrs | ~6 yrs | ~5 yrs |
| $200,000 | ~27 yrs | ~18 yrs | ~14 yrs | ~11 yrs | ~10 yrs |
| $300,000 | 55+ yrs | ~28 yrs | ~21 yrs | ~17 yrs | ~14 yrs |
| $500,000 | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | ~37 yrs | ~28 yrs | ~23 yrs |
| $750,000 | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | ~35 yrs |
| $1,000,000 | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs | 55+ yrs |
Note: These projections are estimates based on constant annual returns. Real-world portfolios experience year-to-year volatility. Sequence of returns risk — poor returns early in retirement — can deplete savings significantly faster than averages suggest. Use the calculator above with conservative assumptions for safety planning.
7 Proven Strategies to Extend Your Retirement Savings Lifespan
Apply the 4% withdrawal rule
Withdraw no more than 4% of your total portfolio value in year one, then adjust annually for inflation. Research shows this sustainable withdrawal rate supports a 30-year retirement horizon in 95%+ of historical market scenarios.
Optimize your asset allocation
A balanced portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds has historically returned 5–7% annually. Too conservative a mix reduces compound growth; too aggressive creates sequence-of-returns risk in early retirement.
Delay Social Security to age 70
Every year you delay Social Security benefits past 62 increases your monthly payment by roughly 6–8%. Claiming at 70 vs. 62 results in up to 76% higher monthly income — dramatically reducing how much your savings must cover.
Strategic tax diversification
A tax-efficient withdrawal strategy — drawing from taxable accounts first, then traditional IRAs, then Roth IRAs — can extend your portfolio life by 2–5 years. Roth conversions in low-income years reduce future required minimum distributions (RMDs).
Reduce fixed retirement expenses
Downsizing your home, eliminating debt before retirement, or relocating to a lower cost-of-living area are the highest-leverage moves. Cutting your monthly spending by just $300 can extend a $300,000 portfolio by 3–5 years.
Annuitize a portion of savings
Converting 20–30% of your retirement portfolio into a guaranteed income annuity locks in lifetime income regardless of market performance. This eliminates longevity risk — the fear of outliving your money — for your core living expenses.
Part-time income in early retirement
Working part-time — even earning just $1,000/month — in the first 5 years of retirement dramatically reduces portfolio withdrawal pressure during the critical early period when sequence-of-returns risk is highest. This strategy is sometimes called the “bridge income” approach.
Understanding Retirement Savings Depletion: What Most People Get Wrong
Most people estimate their retirement savings runway by dividing their balance by their annual spending. If you have $400,000 and spend $20,000 per year, that’s 20 years — simple enough, right? This calculation is dangerously incomplete, and it leads millions of retirees to underestimate how long their money needs to last.
The Inflation Problem: Your Cost of Living Never Stands Still
At a 3% annual inflation rate — the US historical average — a $2,000 monthly budget today requires $2,427/month in 10 years, $2,938/month in 20 years, and $3,564/month in 30 years. If your portfolio’s growth doesn’t outpace this, you’re quietly running a deficit every single year. This is why our retirement withdrawal calculator applies your selected inflation rate to escalate withdrawals annually, giving you a realistic picture of your true savings longevity.
Key insight: The “real” withdrawal rate isn’t just your spending divided by your savings — it’s your spending growth rate minus your portfolio’s growth rate. If you spend 3% of your portfolio annually but your portfolio grows at 5%, your effective net depletion rate is only 2%, meaning your money could theoretically last indefinitely.
Sequence of Returns Risk: Why Timing Matters More Than Averages
A portfolio averaging 6% annually over 30 years sounds secure. But if that portfolio loses 20% in year one of retirement and earns 12% in year 30, the outcome is dramatically worse than the reverse sequence — even though the average is identical. This phenomenon, known as sequence of returns risk, is the single most underappreciated threat to retirement portfolio longevity.
This is why financial planners recommend keeping 1–2 years of living expenses in cash or short-term bonds — a strategy called a retirement income bucket — to avoid selling equity assets during market downturns in the critical early retirement years.
Social Security and Pension Income: The Most Powerful Longevity Lever
Every dollar of guaranteed fixed income — Social Security, pension, annuity payout — directly reduces your required portfolio withdrawal. If you need $3,500/month and receive $1,800 in Social Security, you only need $1,700 from savings. At a 5% return, this difference means your portfolio could last 15 additional years compared to funding the full $3,500 from savings alone.
Use the “Monthly income” field in our calculator to model the Social Security optimization effect. Even a $500/month increase in Social Security income can extend a $300,000 portfolio by 8–12 years.
The 25x Rule: How Much Do You Really Need to Retire?
The corollary to the 4% withdrawal rule is the 25x rule: to retire comfortably, you need approximately 25 times your annual retirement expenses saved. If you need $50,000 per year in retirement (net of Social Security), you need roughly $1.25 million in savings. This benchmark accounts for investment growth and assumes a 30-year retirement horizon.
Quick retirement readiness check: Multiply your annual retirement spending (minus Social Security/pension income) by 25. That’s your target nest egg. If your current savings are below this number, use the calculator above to find the exact gap — and experiment with higher returns, lower withdrawals, or a later retirement date to close it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Use dluip’s Retirement Savings Calculator?
Most free retirement calculators give you a single number and call it done. Our calculator gives you a complete retirement income projection — a live chart, a full year-by-year breakdown table, a 30-year coverage percentage, and an instant verdict on your retirement readiness — all updating when you calculate.
Every variable that matters to your financial independence timeline is accounted for: starting balance, net monthly withdrawal rate, guaranteed income offsets, investment return rate, and inflation-adjusted cost-of-living increases. The result is a personalized portfolio longevity estimate that reflects how retirement actually works — not a simplified approximation that ignores compounding and inflation.
Use this tool to answer the questions that matter most to your retirement security:
- How does delaying retirement by 2 years change my savings runway?
- What’s the impact of cutting my monthly spending by $300?
- How much more will my money last if I delay Social Security to 70?
- What return rate do I need for my savings to last 30 years at my current spending?
Disclaimer: This calculator provides educational estimates based on the assumptions you enter. It does not constitute financial advice. Actual investment returns vary and are not guaranteed. For personalized retirement planning, consult a qualified certified financial planner (CFP) or registered investment advisor (RIA).
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The Calculator Bacalaureat helps students estimate academic performance, while the Concrete Block Calculator simplifies construction material calculations for builders and homeowners. The Share Incentive Plan Calculator is ideal for employees and investors who want to understand potential returns from company share schemes. For additional financial planning insights, you can also explore the retirement planning resources available at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor.gov. These tools can help you make more informed decisions, save time, and improve planning accuracy.